Sporting Kansas City hope they can finally erase their status as the only winless team in MLS when they host a CF Montreal side on Saturday night that has not earned a point away from home.
Kansas City (0-6-3, 3 points) was a team some experts picked for a bounce-back season after they played all of 2022 without striker Alan Pulido and midfielder Gadi Kinda due to long-term injuries.
But Kinda's return to MLS action hasn't yet materialized after a knee issue, and Pulido has hit occasional speedbumps as he comes back from knee surgery.
Both played in Tuesday's 3-0 U.S. Open Cup victory over lower-tier Tulsa Athletic. Kinda was limited to a half-hour while building his match fitness, but Pulido played an hour-long shift and scored his first competitive goal of 2023.
Pulido will need to produce more for SKC to rescue their season, with striker Willy Adada lost for three months due to surgery to repair a leg stress fracture.
"This is important for building confidence," Pulido said after the Open Cup win. "I needed this goal because I have been out a long time and I returned from my injury so I am very happy for my goal but the most important for me is the team winning."
Center back Andreu Fontas will serve a one-match suspension after he was sent off from SKC's 2-1 loss at New England last Saturday.
CF Montreal (2-6-0, 6 points) are coming off an impressive 2-0 home win against the New York Red Bulls despite playing the last 25 minutes with 10 men after Ilias Iliadis received his second yellow card.
The win marked the first clean sheet kept by first-year manager Hernan Losada's squad.
"I thought we were comfortable, we looked good. We blocked shots, we did all the necessary things to get a clean sheet and we deserved it," Montreal defender Joel Waterman said. "And being a man down, too, it was good (for) the confidence it gave myself and the guys in the back and the whole team."
However, CF Montreal have yet to even tie an away game this season while being outscored 14-0 over their five road defeats. And strikers Romell Quioto (leg) and Mason Toye (knee) remain unavailable.
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